Team Wales DAY 6 Summary
The Medals do not stop on Day 6 for Wales!
- Aled Davies becomes Commonwealth Games Champion for his first time winning Gold in Discus
- Men’s 4×100 Medley Relay beat Welsh Record in swimming
- Natalie Powell takes Silver in Judo
NETBALL
South Africa vs Wales
A strong start for Wales in the first quarter as it was neck on neck on the score line, ending 12-12 after the first 15 minutes. South Africa took the advantage in the next two quarters, however, Wales showed resilience and power to reduce the deficit in the fourth quarter. The final score was 69-51.
BOXING
It was the first day of the quarter-finals for Helen Jones, Rosie Eccles and Taylor Bevan. First up, making her Commonwealth debut in the 48-50kg light Flyweight division was Helen Jones, up against India’s Zareen Nikhat. However, it wasn’t to be for the Swansea-born boxer as Nikhat took the victory by points.
Next to take to the ring was Gold Coast 2018 silver medalist, Rosie Eccles, who was up against Tokyo 2020 Bronze Medalist, Lovlina Borghain of India. A close bout, Rosie took the win in a split decision and is guaranteed at least a bronze medal.
Closing the action at the NEC was Taylor Bevan, who makes his third appearance in the ring this week. Bevan was up against Jamaica’s Jerone Ennis. After two knockouts in his first two bouts, Bevan won via a unanimous decision and is also guaranteed a medal.
JUDO
Reigning commonwealth champion from 2014, Natalie Powell, beat Francesca Agathe (Mauritius) and Coralie Godbout (Canada) to reach the gold medal match. In a tight fight against Emma Reid, where the English woman played defensively after scoring 1 point early on, Natalie won silver.
SWIMMING
Morning Session:
The Men’s 4×100 medley relay team qualified for the final, after Canada were disqualified.
Afternoon Session:
Dylan Broom – Men’s 200m Freestyle S14
Dylan kickstarted the afternoon session for Team Wales with an impressive swim finishing in 7th, with a time of 1:58.65.
Medi Harris – Women’s 50m Backstroke
An unbelievable swim from Medi in qualifications saw her qualify as the second fastest, and in a rapid final missed out on a medal by 0.04 of a second to finish in 5th.
Men’s 4×100 Medley Relay
A great swim from the boys saw them beat the Welsh record finishing in 4th place, with a time of 3:36.43.
TABLE TENNIS
Impressive Team Wales came out on top in all but one of their 10 matches at The NEC, progressing across the board in today’s Singles qualifiers.
There were convincing wins for Chloe Thomas Wu Zhang (against Zodwa Maphanga, 4-0) and Anna Hursey (Catherine Spicer, 4-0) in the opening Women’s matches. They repeated the feat against Fathimath Dheema Ali and Nandeshwaree Jalim respectively (3-0 in each case) in their second of the day.
Both top their group and move forward in the competition.
Callum Evans coasted to a pair of 4-0 victories of his own, beating Mick Crea and Sharpel Elia in the Men’s to secure his place in the draw.
Elsewhere Grace Williams had a tough opener against Li Na Lei, losing 3-0 but registered her first victory of the Games, beating Noela Olo of the Solomon Islands 3-0 to set up a match against Felicity Pickard tomorrow (11.50am).
Meanwhile Joshua Stacey had to dig deep to see off a resilient Chao Ming Chee in his first (3-1) Men’s Singles Classes 8-10 success.
The 22-year-old won the final match of the session despite losing the first game against Tajudeen Agunbiade, triumphing 3-1 to tee up a showdown tomorrow with Panteleimon Kailis of Cyprus (1pm).
ATHLETICS
The Men’s discus F42-44/61-64 final was dominated by the Welsh athletes! Aled Davies was in superb form to win gold with a Games record throw to finally claim the one global title that has eluded him with Harrison Walsh taking bronze at his first ever Commonwealth Games!
During the morning session two of our Welsh athletes were in action. Lauren Evans competed in the long jump on day 2 of the heptathlon while Joe Brier successfully qualified for the semi finals in the men’s 400m.
On to the evening session and in the men’s 100m semi finals Jeremiah Azu was in fantastic form setting a PB and qualifying for the final. In front of a packed stadium the final proved to be quite an occasion with Azu finishing 5th to become Team Wales’ most successful 100m runner at the Commonwealth Games.
Meanwhile it was a great performance from Hannah Brier in the women’s 100m semi finals and even though she did not qualify for the final Hannah was really proud of how she ran.
This evening also marked the conclusion of the heptathlon with Lauren Evans competing in the javelin and 800m. Competing at the Commonwealth Games is an experience she will never forget!
In the women’s shot put final Adele Nicoll finished 8th while Rhys Jones raced over the line in 6th position in the T37/38 100m final at what is his 3rd Commonwealth Games.
SQUASH
It was the beginning of our mixed doubles competition with Emily Whitlock and Peter Creed taking on the Ghanian pair of siblings, Ashley and Jason-Ray Khalil in the round of 32. The pair were dominant despite still getting used to playing together on the court. They swiftly found their rhythm and defeated the pair in straight sets, 11-3, 11-10.
Joel displayed true class and determination in his final against the World number 1 Paul Coll from New Zealand. Both displayed impressive skill and trick shots in long rallies. Despite taking the first set convincingly, series of controversial referee decisions did not go Joel’s way and despite great endeavour he lost the match 3-2 (11-3, 9-11, 11-8, 8-11, 7-11).
HOCKEY
Wales men faced Ghana in their penultimate pool game taking a 6-1 victory. It was a slow start for the Welsh men with the Ghanian team taking an early lead in the 21st minute. This clearly motivated Wales and they shortly responded with a goal of their own via a classic Gareth Furlong drag flick. Gareth repeated his drag-flicking masterclass a further two times throughout the game. Ben Francis and Owain Dolan-Gray also added their own goals to bring Wales’ tally to 6. Credit must be given to the Ghanian spectators in the crowd who created an amazing atmosphere with their singing and dancing, our own Gareth Furlong was even the subject of a dance mob during his media duties.
